DictionaryAI

depress

verb
USdi-PRES/dɪˈpɹɛs/

Formsdepresses, depressing, depressed

5 meanings of depress

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To make someone feel sad, downhearted, or bored.

    Constant criticism can depress even the most confident person.

    The gloomy forecast depressed the whole team before the trip.

    Similarsadden, dishearten, dispirit, grieve, upset

    Oppositecheer, hearten, encourage, uplift

    Note

    Here the pressing down is done to the spirits, and the Latin idea of "weighing down" behind the physical sense still shows through. The same up-and-down picture runs through its partners: get down means much the same, and cheer up undoes it. The cause usually stands as the subject and the person as the object: winter depresses me, the news depressed her.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To push or press something downward.

    Depress the clutch fully before changing gears.

    The pianist depressed the keys with a delicate, even touch.

    Similarsquash

    Oppositerelease, raise, lift

    Note

    The literal sense, and the one the others descend from: Latin dēprimō joined dē- "down" to premō "to press." It is the precise word for working controls such as levers, pedals and keys. Cecil J. Allen's "British Locomotive Practice and Performance" (1947) shows a fireman lightly depressing his heel on a pedal. In everyday talk people push or press a button, and depress belongs to instructions and careful description.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To cause a slump or decline in part of the economy.

    A sudden loss of confidence can depress consumer spending nationwide.

    The recession depressed wages across the manufacturing sector.

    Similarreduce, dampen, lower, weaken, suppress

    Oppositeboost, stimulate, raise, increase

    Note

    Economists use it for figures pushed below where they would otherwise sit, such as wages, prices, demand and spending. The subject is usually the force doing the pushing. In Patrick Wintour's 2023 explainer "What was the Black Sea grain deal and why did it collapse?", extra grain supply is depressing the general price. The verb covers both a drag on a single price and the broad slump called a depression.

  4. 4
    verbtransitive
    To bring someone low; to humble their pride or self-importance.

    The rebuke was meant to depress his arrogance, not crush his confidence.

    Repeated humiliations finally depressed the tyrant's pride.

    Similarhumiliate

    Oppositeinflate, boost, exalt

  5. 5
    verbtransitive
    To reduce an equation to one of lower degree.

    Factoring out a known root lets you depress the equation by one degree.

    The student depressed the cubic equation to a quadratic.

    Similarreduce

    Note

    An algebraist's term, and its object is always the equation itself, never a number or a person. Each known root that is factored out lowers the degree by one, so a cubic with one root in hand can be depressed to a quadratic. The aim is practical: the lower-degree equation is easier to solve.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English depressen, borrowed through Old French depresser from Latin dēpressus, the past participle of dēprimō ("to press down, weigh down"), which combines dē- ("down, away") with premō ("to press").